Actress

It was cool to play an African princess who's the smartest in the whole world. That never happens. So I hope all the young girls can feel smart, too.

I fell in love with Jesus, and I'm still in love. Amen!

I realised that acting is not my god.

'Black Panther' has made me embrace my natural black hair. The representation of natural black hair in the film has made me reflect on myself.

I think the more open-minded people we have - like casting directors and producers - the better things are going to be.

We need to include more writers from different backgrounds and ethnicities. We need to see different experiences instead of the same people writing the same kinds of stories.

Everybody has their thing that they're truthful about. My thing is just a love of God... so that's what I'm going to do.

When I need motivation, I just think I can do everything if I maintain a strong sense of will.

I needed to take a break from acting, because I really idolized it. So I came off from it, and I went on a journey to discover my relationship with God, and I became a Christian. It really just gave me so much love and light within myself. I felt secure, like I didn't need validation from anyone else, or getting a part.

Say you want to be with someone, and you're doing something that they don't really like. They're gonna ask you to stop it, just for a moment to take a look at them, to see them clearly. That's what God wanted for me.

Maybe we can have an all-female Marvel film. We've been talking about it. It's only a matter of time.

I don't need to be validated by anybody else; I don't need to be accepted or approved of for my happiness.

In my mind, I don't really see myself as being famous. I just think my work is being exposed to a bigger audience.

I love theater - it's where every actor should begin, the core of acting. But I feel that there's something about film that's captivating; it takes you to another , and you get to really be so connected with it.

I don't come from a creative background. I don't know anyone in my family who is a musician or actor or singer. It's a lot of teachers, lawyers. Professional stuff like that.

Wherever the good stories are, I'm trying to place myself there.

My aim is just to remain as humble and as godly as I can be.

When I came to England, everybody was indoors all the time, and nobody said hello to each other. That was weird.

When I was a kid, people bullied me about my weight and being skinny. Throughout my teenage years, I had to just depend on the fact that, look, this is who God created me to be, so I'm going to depend on what's already there.

We're all people, no matter what colour.